The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General released a new report about its investigation into prohibited FBI contact with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity. The report criticizes the FBI for failing to ensure compliance with the policy.

In 2008, the FBI officially ended its use of CAIR as a Muslim outreach partner after the organization was labeled an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, CAIR’s fellow U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, for financing Hamas. CAIR was listed by federal prosecutors as an entity of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, a secret body it set up to advance the Hamas and overall Islamist agenda.

In April 2009, the FBI Office of Congressional Affairs said that “until we can resolve whether there continues to be a relationship between CAIR or its executives with Hamas, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.”

The Justice Department report also quotes the FBI as saying the policy was enacted to “ensure that the FBI is not supporting individuals who support extremist or terrorist ideologies.” It also mentions that evidence presented during the Holy Land trial linked two CAIR-National leaders to Hamas.

According to the report, in July 2008, field offices were instructed to follow guidelines that included “refraining from participating in any CAIR-sponsored events, avoiding being photographed with leaders of CAIR, and not engaging with CAIR in events such as fundraisers.”

The FBI acknowledged that there were “many close relationships between various FBI field divisions and local CAIR chapters.”

Although the agency does not consider all CAIR chapters to be “affiliated with terrorist organizations,” it said, “in order to stop CAIR senior leadership from exploiting any contact with the FBI, it is critical to control and limit any contact…”

FBI field offices were told that if CAIR is their main primary point of contact with the local Muslim community, they must find another liaison.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz began the review in March 2010 and focused on five engagements between the FBI and CAIR from 2010 to 2012.

On a day when the Council on American-Relations (CAIR) issued a report accusing its critics of bigotry, a Justice Department investigation reminds the public why CAIR does not merit the public’s trust.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz found a series of incidents in which FBI field offices knowingly engaged in outreach activity with CAIR despite a 2008 policy banning non-investigative cooperation with the Islamist group. Only a summaryof the report has been released publicly. The rest is considered classified, but has been made available to Congress.

The ban on interactions with CAIR, first reported by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, resulted from an FBI investigation into a Muslim Brotherhood-created Hamas-support network in the United States.

Internal documents seized by the FBI show that CAIR and its founders, Omar Ahmadand Nihad Awad, were a part of that network known as the Palestine Committee. Both men appear on a telephone list of Palestine Committee members (Awad is listed under a pseudonym “Omar Yehya), and CAIR is listed on a meeting agenda listing the committee’s branches.

“[U] ntil we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS,” an FBI official wrote in 2009, “the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.”

But several FBI field office agents-in-charge balked at the policy, the Inspector General’s report finds, and the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs repeatedly offered field offices conflicting information. Despite a series of electronic communications explaining the CAIR ban – it does not apply to criminal investigations or civil rights complaints – issued from August-December 2008, and despite a mandatory meeting for Special Agents in Charge (SAC) of field offices, the head of the Los Angeles FBI office told his agents to ignore FBI headquarters.

“[W]e will decide how our relationship is operated and maintained with CAIR barring some additional instruction from FBI Headquarters,” the Los Angeles SAC wrote. “Please instruct your folks at this time that are not to abide by the … [policy] but that their direction in regards to CAIR will come from the LA Field Office front office.”

In a scathing letter to new FBI Director James Comey, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., called the violations “intolerable” and demanded punishment for those responsible, including “separation from the FBI.”

The Shoulder-to-Shoulder Campaign, an interfaith coalition allied with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), is praising the passage of two bills by the New York City Council aimed at stopping the alleged abuses of the NYPD. Mayor Bloomberg says he will veto the bills, even though they passed with enough support to override it.

The passed bills, the End Discriminatory Profiling Bill and NYPD Oversight Bill, outraged Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. The latter bill requires the overseeing of the NYPD by an independent Inspector-General. The former opens the door for the NYPD to be sued in state court for policies that disproportionately affect certain ages, genders, sexual orientations or housing statuses.

Mayor Bloomberg considers the bills to be a matter of “life and death” vows to “not give up for one minute.”

“The bill would allow virtually everyone in New York City to sue the Police Department and individual police officers over the entire range of law enforcement functions they perform,” Kelly explained.

He said the result will be skyrocketing liability costs, the unnecessary use of resources and an overall decrease in effectiveness.

When asked about the so-called problem of NYPD racial profiling, Bloomberg dismissively said, “Nobody racially profiles.” He made perhaps the most politically-incorrect statement of his career in defense of the NYPD:

“…They just keep saying, ‘Oh it’s a disproportionate percentage of a particular ethnic group.’ That may be, but it’s not a disproportionate percentage of those who witnesses and victims describe as committing the murder. In that case, incidentally, I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.”

Bloomberg refuses to apologize. “The numbers clearly show that the stops are generally proportionate with suspect’s descriptions,” he said.

The Justice Department’s Inspector General is investigating contact between FBI field offices and representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a report to Congress first flagged by reporter Ryan Reilly shows.

The FBI cut off contact with CAIR in 2008, citing evidence in a Hamas-financing trial that tied the organization to both the Palestinian terrorist group and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Internal records of a U.S.-based Hamas support network listed CAIR among the group’s member organizations. “[U]ntil we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS,” a senior FBI official wrote in 2009, “the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.”

FBI Director Robert Mueller reaffirmed the ban on working with CAIR during congressional testimony in April, 2011.

But reports about field offices defying that order have surfaced repeatedly.

Last year, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported on efforts by the Hartford, Conn. field office to hide their work with CAIR officials. An e-mail obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that agents were unhappy having to abide by FBI headquarters’ policy of not working with CAIR.

“I can only share our mutual disappointment in the ongoing stalemate between CAIR-National and our FBI office in Washington, DC,” wrote the agent, whose name was redacted. “It is apparent that until the stalemate ends, FBI Headquarters will continue to instruct all FBI field offices across the country not to have formal relations with their local CAIR Chapters. It is not a decision each field office makes on their own. This mandate/order is given to us by FBI Headquarters.”

The investigation is disclosed in the IG’s semi-annual report to Congress.

“In response to a congressional request, the OIG is reviewing interactions between FBI field offices and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),” it says. “The review will determine if these interactions were in compliance with FBI policy and guidance that restricts certain interactions with CAIR.”

The outreach to CAIR is controversial because of CAIR’s ties to HAMAS, but also because it is part of a controversial effort by the White House to cooperate with various Muslim groups in the United States.

The cooperation is intended to avert jihadi attacks in the United States, but also to bring Muslim groups into the Democrats’ progressive-led diversity coalition.

The cooperation effort accepts the separatist demand by CAIR and other Muslim advocacy groups that they — but not elected politicians — should represent the nation’s 2 million-plus Muslim residents and citizens, according to critics.

IMPORTANT AND TIME-SENSITIVE
LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT!VOICE YOUR SUPPORT FOR REP. MICHELE BACHMANN AND OTHER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS CALLING FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S POSSIBLE INFILTRATION OF OUR FEDERAL AGENCIES!

As you may be aware, recently Representative Michele Bachmann, along with Representatives Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney, and Lynn Westmoreland, sent letters to the Inspectors General (IGs) of the Departments of State; Justice; Homeland Security; Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In those letters they asked for investigations into the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood within these agencies.
See the letters they sent to the IGs by CLICKING HERE.
It is unfortunate that, as usual, politics has gotten in the way of our national security.
Shortly after the letters were sent, Representative Keith Ellison fired off a letter of his own to the Members of Congress, demanding explanations.
See Mr. Ellison’s letter by CLICKING HERE.
And then something unusual happened—at least unusual as far as how prepared most Members of Congress are to defend their actions when it comes to protecting our nation against the threat of radical Islam. Representative Bachmann politely replied to Congressman Ellison’s letter in her own 16 page—multi-footnoted—correspondence offering detail after detail about why the letters to the IGs were necessary.
See Representative Bachmann’s response to Representative Ellison by CLICKING HERE.
As usual, many in the mainstream media are attacking Representative Bachmann and her colleagues. They are doing so by working to shift the focus from the issue at hand—examining whether the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated specific federal agencies—to a tangential issue.
We cannot let that happen. We must send a strong message of support for the calls for investigations by the Inspectors General. That is the issue at hand, and that must be our continued focus.
While this issue is receiving much attention by both the media and up on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Congress is watching and listening. What will they hear from the people back home?***Action Item***
Please click HERE to be taken to the Contact Congress page of our website. Click on the Alert in the red box entitled: Support Members of Congress Calling for Muslim Brotherhood Investigation. From there, follow the easy directions and send your e-mails to those who represent you in the House and Senate. It should take no more than 5 minutes of your time.Note: As you follow the directions to send your e-mail, you will see that we have provided a sample letter addressing this matter. We encourage you to modify the letter as you see fit to personalize it. AS ALWAYS, PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL AND PROFESSIONAL. OTHERWISE, THIS EFFORT WILL NOT BE EFFECTIVE!
Finally, please forward this Alert to everyone you know who shares our concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood and how the U.S. Government is addressing this threat. Through our online system, writing your e-mail will take only a matter of minutes to make your voice heard. And if we ALL act together, it will be a powerful and effective voice that every Member of the U.S. Congress will hear.
Please act NOW!Thank you for all that you do.

REMEMBER, YOUR VOICE COUNTS! IF EACH OF US DOES JUST A LITTLE, TOGETHER WE CAN ACCOMPLISH A LOT!

Citing specific cases, the letters were sent just one day after Neil Munro at the Daily Caller revealed that the Justice Department Inspector General had launched an investigation into the FBI’s ongoing contacts with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), despite a stated policy of having no contacts with the group after FBI agents testified and numerous exhibits were entered into evidence in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial that showed CAIR was a front for Hamas.

Even before the conclusion of the Holy Land Foundation trial, federal prosecutors had said in court filings in the Sabri Behkahla appeal that “Moreover, from its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists.” (pg. 58, fn 13)

That Inspector General investigation was launched after White House Director for Community Partnerships told Munro that the administration had “hundreds” of contacts with CAIR despite the FBI’s stated policy.

In February 2010 letter to members of Congress from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, he explained the evidence from the Holy Land Foundation trial implicating CAIR in the Hamas support conspiracy.

So that’s the context for the dust-up last week between Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. Keith Ellison (Ellison is the first Muslim member of Congress). After the DOJ Inspector General announced he was looking into the FBI/CAIR contacts, the five members of Congress sent their letters to the respective Inspectors General asking them to investigate specific incidents of known or possible Muslim Brotherhood front group’s influence with these government agencies.

In response, last Thursday Ellison sent a letter to all five members demanding that they provide sources for the claims in their Inspector General request letters. Half of Ellison’s letter was an ad hominem attack on Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. A number of media outlets, including the Huffington Post and Bachmann’s hometown newspaper, the St. Cloud Times, jumped into the fray attacking the signatories of the request letters for “Islamophobia” and ne0-McCarthism.

What they didn’t expect is that less than 24 hours later Bachmann would respond with a 16-page rejoinder with 59 footnotes to original sources backing up their claims.

I do note that the facts we presented in the Inspector General request letters are based on information presented by U.S. Government officials in court documents, court evidence, correspondence and briefings with Congress and public statements, in addition to known media reporting. These letters were far from sole-sourced as you maintain in your letter.

Throughout the letter, Bachmann notes that Ellison had deliberately misrepresented the facts stated in the Inspector General request letters to gin up his “Islamophobia conspiracy” accusations.

What follows is an impressive point-by-point systematic dismantling of Ellison. Click the link to read the letter:

At the end of the letter, Bachmann states that since sending the June 13th letters, additional information has come forth to raise even greater questions:

Since we sent the Inspector General letters requesting further investigation, other shocking incidents have occurred. Chief among these was the decision just a few weeks ago by the State Department to give a member of an Egyptian designated terrorist group (which is still listed as such by the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism54) a visa to not only enter the country in violation of the federal laws prohibiting material support for terrorism, but to be granted a meeting inside the White House with National Security Council officials.55

The terror group member used the opportunity of his White House visit to call for the release of the imprisoned leader of his organization, the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel Rahman, who is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and later planned terror plots inside the U.S.56

She finishes the letter by observing the duplicity with which the U.S. Government has handled its Muslim outreach by saying one thing about terror-tied Islamic groups in federal court, and then pretending that such information doesn’t exist day-to-day:

Administration prosecutors and investigators have made statements backed up by considerable evidence in court raising serious concerns about many of the Muslim Brotherhood front groups, but the day-to-day operation of these departments and agencies continue “outreach” programs involving these exact same organizations as if the evidence presented in federal court or statements made in search warrant applications doesn’t exist.

In light of the information revealed during the Holy Land Foundation trial, the FBI officially cut ties with CAIR because of their activities in support of Hamas.57And yet just last month the new White House Director for Community Partnerships admitted that this administration has had “hundreds” of meetings with CAIR in spite of the FBI’s stated policy.58It has been reported the White House has worked to conceal these ties (in one case, with ISNA and MPAC).59

As members of Congress, we are charged to oversee and hold accountable all government agencies – a charge given to us by the Constitution on behalf of the citizens of the United States. To do anything less is to subvert the oaths we took as members to protect and defend the Constitution. For us to fail to demand action on the part of the Inspector Generals on this matter is to fail to uphold the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

It has to be said that when it comes to federal prosecutors identifying Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the United States, Rep. Keith Ellison is no disinterested observer.

Back in December 2008, Ellison took a hajj trip to Saudi Arabia funded by the Muslim American Society (MAS).

But in fact, more than a year before, federal prosecutors also addressed the origins of MAS in the Sabri Benkahla appeal, stating that “MAS was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” The Chicago Tribune in September 2004 wrote an extensive expose of MAS as a recruitment and ideological training ground for the extremist international Muslim Brotherhood.

As Fox Newsnoted the following year when Ellison finally had to disclose in congressional filings that MAS had paid for his trip, Ellison had been a keynote speaker at the MAS 2007 and 2008 annual national convention. He has also been a regular speaker at events for CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), both of which were identified by the Justice Department in the Holy Land Foundation trial as Muslim Brotherhood fronts.

So in this case we have a congressman with extensive and documented ties to organizations identified by the U.S. government as Muslim Brotherhood fronts going to the media and attacking fellow colleagues for raising the issue of Muslim Brotherhood influence in the federal government. Such is the Kafkaesque world we live in.

The media’s response to Bachmann’s letter over the weekend is also instructive.

Yes, there is a Huma Abedin angle to this story but a certain Muslim Congressman seems to be in the middle of digging himself a bit of a hole.

On July 12th, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Muslim-MN) sent a two-page letter to the five congressmen who sent five separate letters to five separate Inspectors General on June 13th. The June 13th letters raised serious concerns about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration inside the U.S. Government. Among the concerns raised with the OIG at the State Department are the familial connections of Hillary Clinton’s closest aide – Huma Abedin – to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ellison attempted to pit Bachmann against Republicans like Herman Cain and Chris Christie by pointing out that her source in the June 13th letters seemed to be one person – Frank Gaffney. Gaffney has rightfully been very critical of said Republicans in the past for their comments and actions relative to Muslim Brotherhood front groups.

Moreover, Ellison seemed to allege in his July 12th letter that Gaffney was Bachmann’s only source.

Here is how Ellison ended that letter:

Despite Mr. Gaffney’s record of unsubstantiated allegations, you appear to have based your letters to the Inspectors General on his views.

I request that you provide my office a full accounting of the sources you used to make the serious allegations against the individuals and organizations in your letters. If there is not credible, substantial evidence for your allegations, I sincerely hope that you will publically (sic) clear their names.

Ask and ye shall receive, Congressman…

Bachmann responded to Ellison by sending him a 16-page bombshell (via SC Times) that is strewn with 59 separate footnotes, proving unequivocally that Gaffney is hardly her only source. Says Bachmann:

I do note that the facts we presented in the Inspector General request letters are based on information presented by U.S. Government officials in court documents, court evidence, correspondence and briefings with Congress and public statements, in addition to known media reporting. These letters were far from sole-sourced as you maintain in your letter.

While I can’t speak on behalf of the other signatories of these letters, nor am I able to get into the private discussions and documentation received by the various House committees represented by the signatories on these matters that motivated these letters to the various Inspectors General, out of respect to you I am happy to respond to some of your concerns, provide the sources you ask for, as well as clarify a few points that may have been misunderstood or misrepresented.

Furthermore, Ellison’s defense of groups that should be identified as enemies of the United States puts him in dangerous territory and Bachmann exploited it. In citing the Holy Land Foundation Trial – along with attempts by CAIR and ISNA to be removed from unindicted co-conspirator list – Bachmann quotes from the Judge’s declination of that request:

Finally, CAIR, NAIT, and ISNA ask the Court to strike their names from any public document filed or issued by the government (Mot. at 6.) While it is clear from the Briggs line of cases that the Government should have originally filed the unindicted co-conspirators’ names under seal, the Court declines to strike CAIR, ISNA and NAIT’s names from those documents. The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas. (Bachmann’s letter cites the Judge’s Memorandum Opinion Order)

Ellison is dangerously close to outwardly defending groups tied to Hamas – a designated terrorist organization – and he’s doing so on the Congressional record. Bachmann basically check-mates Ellison in the very next sentence:

It should be noted that Article 2 of the Hamas Covenant identifies Hamas as a Muslim Brotherhood entity while Article 7 calls for the global killing of all Jews (Bachmann cites – of all things – Yale Law School).